Of Maine and Moose

The beautiful Acadia National Park - this week my dad came to visit me in Boston. We decided to head up north to Bar Harbor, Maine; home to Acadia National Park. It is on Mount Desert Island on the mid-cost of Maine about 5 hours north of Boston. Above is the panoramic view from Cadillac Mountain looking over the harbor.

This is our hotel, The Bar Harbor Inn. It was built in 1887 as a gentleman's club and was later turned into a hotel. It is right on the water and a very picturesque location.

Sand Beach - The only sand beach in Acadia National Park.

On Day 2 we were supposed to hike and bike around the National Park. However, the pouring rain literally put a damper on our plans. We decided to head north about 120 miles to Baxter State Park to avoid the doom and gloom of rain. The Baxter State Park is in central Maine, basically middle of nowhere. Maine only 1.3 million people spread out over large areas with 90% of the land covered in forest. The park was founded in the early 1900's and preserved as a wilderness area. There are only gravel roads and strict restrictions to maintain "The North Woods" (as Maine's woods are called) in tact. I was hopeful that in this wilderness we would see moose. After 3 hours of driving and little hiking in the park with no prevail we were about ready to turn around when a moose jumped in front of the car on the road...not 5 feet in front of us! It was amazing! He sauntered out in front of us 30 feet then hung out on the side of the road. I didn't get too great of pictures but below is what I have for now until I can get my dads photos. It was awesome! We headed back and to my surprise saw another moose walking along the interstate no less. In addition, we saw turkeys and a porcupine earlier in the morning. Overall, a great wildlife adventure day! Headed back tomorrow to explore Boston for the weekend.

MORE TO COME!